Chapter 142: He’s a great doctor.

““Kai!!”” Upon hearing the voice, Momo and Nejire exclaimed loudly, which echoed the heavy footsteps that could be heard approaching from the darkness.

Meanwhile, Stain, feeling a danger like never before, quickly pulled his knife from the hero’s neck, causing a jet of blood to spurt out. With a fluid motion, he spun 180 degrees, just in time to see a handsome young man with black hair and blue eyes stepping out of the darkness with a firm stride. His face bore a cold expression, laden with “killing intent”.

A powerful shiver ran down Stain’s spine upon meeting those angry eyes. Thanks to his many years of experience flirting with death, Stain quickly recovered and leaped toward him, wanting to draw some of his blood to take him out of the fight and swiftly end his life.

“Die!”

As soon as he reached Kai, Stain uttered a single phrase filled with murderous intent while attempting to slash him with his knife. But with a movement so swift it went unnoticed, the blue-eyed boy grabbed his wrist firmly and looked him straight in the eyes, then spun him through the air and slammed him against the ground with such force that the nearby concrete was destroyed, injuring his head and leaving him unconscious in a pool of his own blood.

[Sage, capture this guy and keep him under watch.]

[Understood, master.]

Simultaneously, Kai quickly communicated with his reliable assistant through their mental connection. She immediately replied as her dress changed into a female prison guard’s uniform, then placed her small hands on the villain’s head.

“Kai! Could you check his condition?”

Paying no attention to the defeated villain, Nejire quickly asked in a frightened tone while pointing at the hero, who was clutching his neck and trying to take a few shaky steps forward, though he soon dropped to his knees on the ground, letting out a weak groan as a pool of his blood began to form on the floor. Momo quickly added, wearing a similar expression.

“He was stabbed in the neck! If we don’t do something, he’ll die!.”

“Sure. Hand me the first aid kit, Momo. Salem, immobilize the villain.” Kai responded in a calm tone as he approached the hero, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, at which point ‘Salem’ leapt off his shoulder and grew in size before sitting down on Stain.

“It’s better to wait for the ambulance.” Todoroki remarked in a serious, solemn tone, watching the macabre scene with his heart pounding. At that moment, Gran Torino spoke up gravely.

“Let him handle it; he’s a great 'doctor'.”

Todoroki, Iida, Modoriya, and Endeavor—who had managed to get to his feet when Stain lost consciousness—turned toward Gran Torino, somewhat surprised by his statement. Meanwhile, Momo quickly retracted her armor, and from her exposed skin emerged a medium-sized white box with a red cross in the center. She ran to hand it to Kai, looking nervous.

Without paying attention to the surrounding blood, Kai reached the wounded hero and knelt to examine him, realizing that besides the blood gushing out in small spurts synchronized with his heartbeat, the man was gasping for air and letting out an ominous gurgling sound. Without a second thought, Kai put one hand over the wound to try to contain the hemorrhage, just as Momo arrived by his side to give him the first aid kit.

“Momo, carefully hold his head so he can’t move it.”

While opening the first aid kit with a swift motion, Kai spoke, glancing at the pale-faced Momo, who quickly nodded and held the hero’s head between her hands, trying her best not to look directly at the bleeding wound and turning her face away, yet keeping her hands firmly in place.

After making sure Momo was doing well, Kai used his free hand to take out a bag of compresses from the kit, swiftly replacing his manual pressure on the wound with the compresses, right over the carotid artery.

Without so much as a grimace at the blood staining his hands, Kai quickly applied a compression bandage, being careful not to wrap it completely around the hero’s neck. The hero wore an expression of utter terror and desperation. At that moment, Kai turned to Nejire and spoke firmly.

“Nejire, come here and hold this compress. I need my hands free.”

“Yes!”

Though pale and frightened, Nejire dashed over and, following Kai’s instructions, applied pressure to the man’s neck with the compress. At that moment, Kai took out a bottle of alcohol, a small tube that appeared to be part of an IV line, and a scalpel.

After removing the scalpel from its sterile pouch, Kai cut the tube, then quickly poured alcohol on his hands, the tube, and the scalpel. Immediately, he made a small horizontal incision in the hero’s cricothyroid membrane, on the front of the neck below the wound, and inserted the tube with a firm motion. Air instantly began whistling through it.

Amid the tube’s hissing sound, the hero gave a weak cough, obviously in pain, expelling some of the blood and managing to take in a bit more air. Although his breathing was still labored, the ominous gurgling diminished substantially, precisely what Kai had intended.

As he coughed, the hero tried to use one of his hands to grip Kai’s expensive shirt, pleading with a gaze that showed evident fear and pain. Kai then spoke in a firm tone, looking him straight in the eyes.

“Calm down. You’ve suffered a cut on your neck that affects the carotid artery and your airway. Don’t speak—save your energy and stay as still as possible.” Kai quickly turned to the others and asked in a serious tone.

“Has anyone called an ambulance?”

“Yes, they’re already on their way.” Endeavor replied, staring intently at the dangerous blue-eyed boy, who simply nodded indifferently, not wanting to get caught up in another fight with that flaming piece of trash. Then, turning back to the hero, he said resolutely.

“You heard him. Help is on the way, so just stay calm.”

Within a few minutes, the iconic sounds of ambulance sirens rang out. Four paramedics arrived, racing to the scene with a stretcher. Kai looked at them and spoke in a calm voice.

“He has a penetrating neck wound with a possible partial section of the carotid artery and airway compromise. I performed an emergency cricothyrotomy to keep his airway open, and there’s a compression bandage over the injured artery…”

As Kai explained the situation to the paramedics, Nejire and Momo watched him with shining eyes, practically on the verge of pouncing on him. But since they were busy saving someone’s life, like the great heroines they were, they held back. Meanwhile, Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki exchanged stunned looks, filled with doubt.

They were truly grappling with the fact that a classmate their age was capable of such a feat—not only was he monstrously strong, but he was now apparently also a doctor. It made them question reality itself or even whether he was entirely human.

For his part, Gran Torino watched Kai with mild astonishment. While he had heard from Recovery Girl that the boy was a formidable doctor, he’d assumed she was referring to the way he’d healed All Might—which he’d been told was quite “magical”. But the boy was now clearly showing real knowledge and the ability to save a life.

Endeavor, meanwhile, kept shifting his gaze between the injured hero, Kai, the defeated villain, and the huge panther sitting on him, his expression unreadable. Secretly, he felt shaken by the ridiculous display of skill from a kid the same age as his youngest son. At the same time, he felt equally suspicious, given that the boy’s demeanor was too composed and calm under circumstances that would rattle even a seasoned hero.

Ever since he appeared, this kid, in a single move, took down the villain who had incapacitated and killed dozens of heroes, then rescued a gravely injured person with an exceptionally high level of skill. More importantly, he didn’t even furrow his brow once throughout the entire process, as though he were an experienced surgeon accustomed to blood and death.

…

With Kai’s explanations, the paramedics quickly recognized the seriousness of the situation. Two of them headed back to the ambulance to get the gear needed to immobilize the patient, while the other two carefully placed the hero on the stretcher, secured him, and rushed him into the ambulance, where they hooked him up to various devices before setting off at full speed toward the hospital.

Right as the ambulance took off, Momo and Nejire turned around to embrace Kai in excitement, only to find him removing his expensive, blood-soaked shirt, revealing his exceptionally sculpted torso and the two necklaces he’d worn around his neck for nearly a decade. At that moment, the blue-eyed boy looked at Momo and asked with a smile.

“Momo, could you help me with some water and a new shirt?”

“Sure!” Momo answered with a huge smile and promptly used her Quirk to create several bottles of water, handing one to Kai and another to Nejire, who also had blood on her hands.

“How are you so skilled at medicine, Saito?”

While Kai rinsed away the blood with water, a curious Todoroki couldn’t help but ask, prompting the others to pay close attention, including Endeavor, who was on the phone with his sidekicks after having tightly secured Stain with handcuffs, a chain, and his flames—refusing to repeat the same mistake. Kai answered in a calm tone.

“I practiced a lot on corpses.”

Kai’s reply sent a shiver down the three students’ spines. Momo and Nejire immediately noticed, prompting the beautiful blue-haired girl to cheerfully clarify as she washed the blood off her body.

“Kai’s talking about cadavers from medical schools—those are the ones students use for practice. A few years ago, Kai became obsessed with medicine, and after studying a lot, he wanted hands-on experience. So he went to several medical schools and asked to use their cadavers and to observe their procedures.”

“And they just… agreed, just like that?” Midoriya asked in a confused, hushed voice, to which Momo responded with a small laugh while creating a new shirt for Kai.

“Kai donated a lot of money, so they were more than happy to let him practice. Some professors even had him assist in minor surgeries and gave him some private lessons.”

“Money really can do anything…” Midoriya muttered with a complicated tone, making both young heroines smile. Momo then added calmly, handing the fresh shirt to Kai.

“Money is just a tool, Midoriya-san. Without talent and sufficient effort, money alone can’t make you a doctor. While it might buy you a certification in some places, that wouldn’t make you a real doctor. On a day like today, you wouldn’t be able to do anything. Besides, they only let Kai assist because he’s truly skilled—otherwise, they would’ve made him watch from a distance.”

Kai, for his part, listened in silence without saying anything. While working with cadavers and his few experiences as a surgical assistant had indeed helped, most of the credit for his abilities went to his lab rats. But since he needed a valid excuse for showing his skills, he used the cadaver story. Plus, he genuinely learned a few things from the doctors who supervised him.

Moreover, although he wouldn’t heal just anyone outside his family or very special cases using his aura, since it was too miraculous and would only invite trouble, he had no qualms about using his medical skills to make the girls happy. While it might seem surprising, it was still within the realm of normalcy and wouldn’t cause too many problems. Besides, the girls understood the implications of him using such powers, so they wouldn’t ask him carelessly.

Once Kai had put on the new shirt, Nejire and Momo, still a bit pale from all the tension, grabbed him by the arms with smiles that practically shouted their pride. At that moment, Gran Torino approached Kai and spoke in a serious, appreciative tone, while ‘Salem’ hopped back onto the blue-eyed boy’s shoulder.

“You did very well, kid.”

“It was nothing.” Kai replied casually, and after a brief farewell, the three of them left the scene in a hurry as the sound of police sirens drew closer.